Elizabeth I used the term once and do we even fully understand what she meant by it?

Look at the census. If this was a common term people would have used it. The first time I ever saw it being used was by USA tree researchers on a large genealogy forum, and Irish, British and even some American people were asking what it meant. Because no one had ever heard it before

Elizabeth, and also one of the James's, used the term 'reiver' once, now you see people on genealogy forums who think they are descended from the so called 'Border Reivers'.

Elizabeth I used the term once and do we even fully understand what she meant by it?

Look at the census. If this was a common term people would have used it. The first time I ever saw it being used was by USA tree researchers on a large genealogy forum, and Irish, British and even some American people were asking what it meant. Because no one had ever heard it before

Elizabeth, and also one of the James's, used the term 'reiver' once, now you see people on genealogy forums who think they are descended from the so called 'Border Reivers'.

There was no USA census in 2012. The next census is 2020.
They might be meaning the 2010 census?

The problem with very recent census forms is that you can more or less identify as whatever you like. The lists of categories became quite long . I cant remember the exact term but it was probably something like 'ethnic identity'? Which is a choice really. So in say 2000 they may have introduced a 'Scots-Irish' choice to the list, but then decided to remove it for a following census. This is what the article seems to be about.
This self identifying from a long list of possibilities is a recent question.
The questions previously were much simpler

Looks like the 'Scotch Irish' census classification, or a self identity question, started in 1980? You can see the huge increase by 1990. This is when a lot of genealogy records had started to become available.

The term Scots-Irish definitely was around prior to 1980. I was born in the Appalachians in the 1950s. I've lived amongst Scots-Irish people most of my life & have often been wrongly called that myself. This label is often erroneously applied too the many people of Gaelic Irish or Scottish decent. Most people think it applies to anyone whose ancestors were from Scotland or Ireland.
I hate the spell correct on my kindle. It just changed Gaelic into Garlic ))).

Looks like the 'Scotch Irish' census classification, or a self identity question, started in 1980? You can see the huge increase by 1990. This is when a lot of genealogy records had started to become available.

Thanks for that info I wasn't aware of the actual numbers. How does it work re the Irish in America in the census are they classified as Irish or Irish-American. Is there a separate classification for them to use Irish-American.

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